Wilson, Seminoles Stymie Hurricanes

April 10, 1993|By Alan Schmadtke of The Sentinel Staff

TALLAHASSEE — Every other outing, Orlando's Paul Wilson masters his craft. On Friday night, that meant he mastered Miami.

Wilson, the lead pitcher for all of Florida State's significant series, skirted first-inning trouble and then controlled the Hurricanes in a 7-0 victory before a season-high 4,547 at Dick Howser Stadium.

Pitching with a one-run lead most of the game, Wilson allowed only two baserunners to reach third and struck out eight to earn his third shutout. Each of the shutouts, not including two other outings in which he pitched fewer than nine innings but allowed no runs, followed a game in which opponents reached him for runs.

Such confidence kept Wilson (8-2), a sophomore from Boone High School, calm through a difficult first inning. A double play and perfect defense on a double steal permitted him to survive a pair of walks and a hit batsman with his shutout intact.

Two batters after Dave Berg grounded into a double play, Link Jarrett threw out Luis Hernandez at home on a double-steal attempt to end the inning.

After that, the game followed Wilson's predictable, game-by-game pattern of starts: give up runs, shut a team out, give up runs, shut a team out, etc.

Wilson's totals for five of his 10 starts: 39 innings pitched, 22 hits and zero runs. In his other five, opponents scored 14 runs.

FSU (29-7), ranked sixth by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America, clung to a 1-0 lead from the second to the eighth. Miami (22-12) is ranked 12th and 15th, respectively.

Mike Schmitz's fourth home run in five games triggered a six-run inning that chased Miami starter Kenny Henderson (3-3) and spanned four pitchers.